Penn Museum buries remains of 19 black Philadelphians

An Ivy League university on Saturday buried the remains of 19 black people whose skulls were used as part of a racist scientific research project in the early 19th century.

The University of Pennsylvania held a historic memorial service to honor the Philadelphians whose skulls were unethically collected to support white supremacy research that aimed to prove that black people were a different race of humans than white people.

The research was conducted, beginning in the 1830s, by physician Samuel G. Morton, who looted human remains from institutions that housed poor and mentally ill black people.

The body parts of the unknown and unconsenting subjects had been on display at the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology since 1966.

University officials say they’re trying to right past wrongs through reparations — something that has gotten some pushback from local activists who say officials rushed to make burial plans before identifying the remains and made the plan without seeking community input.

“Repatriation should be part of what the museum does, and we should embrace it,” said Christopher Woods, the museum’s director.

Woods said they chose to have an above-ground burial in the case that any of the 19 individuals became identified, the mausoleums are “by design fully reversible if the facts and circumstances change.”

While some local activists say the decision to bury the remains in Eden Cemetery, a local and historic black cemetery in Darby, Pa., was made without community input, others — including researchers — have challenged the idea that the identities of the Philadelphians were lost.

“They never did any research themselves on who these people were, they took Morton’s word for it,” said Lyra Monteiro, an anthropological archaeologist professor at Rutgers University. “The people who aren’t even willing to do the research should not be doing this.”

Through the city’s public archives, Monteiro found out one of the men’s mothers was Native American — meaning his remains must be repatriated through the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act.

While the university removed that set of remains from the reburial so it could be assessed, Monteiro and others became infuriated upon discovering that the university already laid the other sets of remains to rest last weekend outside of public view.

Members of the Black Philadelphians Descendant Community Group, which was organized by people who identify as descendants of some of the 19 individuals, said in a statement they are “devastated & hurt” that the burial took place without them

“In light of this new information, they are taking time to process and consider how best to honor their ancestors at a future time,” the group said.

The collection of remains, some of which were used in teaching as recently as 2020, were collected unethically beginning in the 1830s.

Morton collected at least 900 crania in Philadelphia, where he was a medical professor responsible for training most of the doctors at that time — something critics say fueled medical racism that is still evident today.

“Medical racism can really exist on the back of that,” Monteiro said. “His ideas became part of how medical students were trained.”

Penn Museum defended its actions in a statement.

“To balance prioritizing the human dignity of the individuals with conservation due diligence and the logistical requirements of Historic Eden Cemetery, laying to rest the 19 Black Philadelphians was scheduled ahead of the interfaith ceremony and blessing,” it said.

The university still has over 300 Native American remains in the Morton Cranial Collection to be repatriated through federal law.

The burial comes as New York City’s American Museum of Natural History was forced to shutter its Native American exhibits on Friday as part of a new regulation approved last month by the White House to speed up the reparation process.

In compliance with the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act, the AMNH stripped the displays of its Native relics with plans to ship them back to the tribes they once belonged to.

The closures will result in almost 10,000 square feet of exhibition spaces being off-limits to visitors.

With Post wires.